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Races
The world of Equinox has many sentient races with very different characteristics, some more and some less similar to each other. The word "race" in this world does not have the same meaning as the word "race" currently has in ours. The differences between races are not only superficial and sometimes cultural: besides that the different races in this world sometimes have measurable and objective differences as well, making them closer to a "species" level, though many races can successfully interbreed. These traits are represented by unique racial characteristics. Also, different races have different backgrounds available to them, depending on their culture and traditions. Not every sentient race is represented in this section. This is done for various reasons. Some races are way too few in numbers, some have such different mentality that they will not ever be a part of an adventuring group of any sort, some are too powerful in comparison to others, and some are not powerful enough. The ones that did not make the cut for whatever reason can be found in the Monsters section. Each race has several subraces, each with its own traits. Subraces can have as little differences as what we know about races of people in real world and differ only superficially and culturally, or almost as much as different races in this setting, but they are always united by several traits exclusive only to ther parent race. Obviously, this classification is not set in stone and it could be argued that high elves and wood elves should be subraces, not races, but this division is presented as it is common in the Empire of Eberia. Not every person belonging to the race can be easily placed in one of the subraces, which is especially common to those who were born in big cities, the melting pots of cultures and races. Those can possess the "generic" traits. As was mentioned before, a lot of races can interbreed as well. Such people have a mixture of characteristics from their parents. Dark Elves Dark Elves, or Drow, are often feared and misunderstood, even by other elves, and this reputation is not entirely unfounded. However, as is usually the case with stereotypes, they are not entirely and universally correct either. The amount of truly dangerous individuals amongst them is more than likely not different from any other race, but their general outlook on life stemming from their culture makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and it is not helped by their common demeanor. All this, coupled with their stark appearance, shows that "dark" does not just refer to the color of their hair... Drow seem to be the unnerving reflections of the Wood Elves – their hair is either blindingly white or black as pitch, their skin pale, even a little greyish, and their eyes steel gray, blue or black. Their figure seems more crudely knocked like they were sloppily carved from stone, although they do not differ from other elves in average height (about 185 centimeters) or weight (about 65 kilogramms). Facial features are also tougher, even sharp. They have prominent cheekbones, often aquiline nose, thin lips, faint brow ridges and so on. Dark elves prefer skin and metal to other types of clothes. Their appearance often scares others with its unusual features and gloom, but it might be telling nothing about their actual character. Like other elves, dark elves prefer to grow long hair and do not have a mustache or beard. Despite the intimidating appearance and the name "dark" elves, there are those who follow the path of Light. Culture of the dark elves is based on the idea of complete moral and physical freedom, which sometimes leads to conflicts with other civilizations. Furthermore, they obviously do not like to comply with the laws and rules of others. Drow commonly live in their own villages, usually near the mountains, lakes or the sea. Dark elves are are excellent fighters, even if they do not have the power of orcs or agility of halflings: their fast movements look as if blurred, and their extremely accurate strikes are deadly. In addition, they have some resistance to magic. Dark Elves, as all the other elves, have heightened senses, are eternally young, and need less sleep. Oaenshee-drow Main article: Oaenshee-drow This subrace differs by having slightly lower average height and being more lean than other drow. Other notable features include bigger, stronger hands, rather broad shoulders, grayish skin, wiry and muscular body and eyes with rudimentary epicanthus, which makes them a little narrower and more almond-shaped. Oaenshee-drow are considered excellent sailors and have gained some fame thanks to this. They virtually lack their own culture because of the small size of their population and dispersal around the world. The settlements of oaenshee-drow are a very rare thing, usually they are a small fishing or pirate hamlet near or in the water, but the majority of the members of this sub-races live in other, often human cities. Because of life in quite difficult conditions oaenshee-drow usually look tatty: weathered skin, matted due to salty sea water hair, calloused hands, staggering gait, and numerous scars are normal appearance for these sea-farers by nature. Like other drow, they appreciate the convenience and versatility of leather clothing, but because of its high cost often prefer simple clothes of cheap cloth and canvas. Very rarely do oaenshee-drow reach any significant influence or status in an honest way, but those that follow in the footsteps of piracy often gaining a kind of "respect" and decent wealth. Oaenshee-drow are the most resistant to magic. The mechanism of this phenomenon is still not well understood, but it is known that it is different from similar abilities orcs possess since it is manifested in any conditions. Their ability to cast is not affected. Llan-drow Main article: Llan-drow Llan-drow are the most similar to their High and Wood Elves counterparts – subtle features, almost normal, albeit pale skin color and so on. In addition, they are the tallest of the dark elves. Llan-drow settlements are located in the hills and near the lakes, where they engage in hunting and fishing, often living in the same way their ancestors did hundreds and even thousands of years ago. In some, especially remote, villages, their people do not even recognize any currency, relying instead on barter entirely. Of course, this is not universally true for any and all Llan-drow – those living in the cities and nearby are no different from other elves. Representatives of this sub-race sadly become bandits often, and a gang of robbers consisting entirely of Llan-drow on a road is not an uncommon situation. It is known that traditions that are so obvious and universal to other elves do not hold the dark elves down, but the most striking example of this are groups of marauders formed from Llan-drow and sometimes other races. In contrast especially to the high elves, who try to unravel the secrets of the ancient ruins of their ancestor race, these groups just try to loot them when they can. Perhaps the only tradition that Llan-drow respect is their highly valued family ties, especially those between brothers and sisters. This custom most likely comes from the period when Llan-drow virtually disappeared after several wars that devastated Eberia. Fortunately, the numbers of llan-drow recovered and they are the most common of the drow subraces now. Worth mentioning is the fact that Llan-drow are well-known not only in Eberia, but also outside of the Empire because of their outstanding export commodity – Nanow, or Green Beer, a special light alcoholic drink, tasting like the best beer, though with its own unique character, but possessing a different color. Virtually every settlement has at least one, however small, brewery, which is usually the main source of income. Secret recipe was "revealed" several times by those who wanted to capitalize on this, but reproducing the properties of the drink for whatever mysterious reason did not work even once, so Llan-drow are still the only ones who are able to make it. Aeyra-drow Main article: Aeyra-drow Aeyra-drow are the subrace of the Dark Elves that people, especially the ignorant ones, imagine when they hear the word "drow". Pale as the driven snow, and often even albino, lean and, in a way, similar to either animated skeletons or ghosts restlessly roaming the world, aeyra-drow are just the creatures halfling mothers scare their children with if they are being naughty. Such a reputation can not be called entirely undeserved – aeyra-drow are not known for their hospitality and pleasant character. Although one should not say that they are heartless monsters either – it's unlikely that every aeyra-drow you meet will attack you on sight, but expecting them to help you would not be a good bet to make either. In general, their relationship to other sentient beings can be described as indifference rather than aggression. Aeyra-drow live in the mountains, often in caves, usually dug by others which are, of course, driven out now, often by the dark elves themselves. Neither builders nor miners, ayera-drow can leave their settlement to decline, crumbling with age and as a result of neglect. However, if this becomes the case, its inhabitants simply find another place to live. Do not make a mistake in assuming that the representatives of this sub-race only fight and threaten others – they also pass secrets of the Arcane from generation to generation. Of course, many of them use all their abilities for the same purpose, but that's another story. Despite the widespread opinion that the aeyra-drow are ruthless killers, because of their scarcity they prefer to act more by cunning than by force. Many of "their" settlements are acquired without shedding a drop of blood on either side, so those who believe that all of them, or even most of them, are just narrow-minded savages are making a dangerous and wrong assumption. Dwarves Dwarves are a humanoid race characterized by their lower height (about a meter and a quarter), and a strong constitution. Apparently, dwarves are one of the most ancient races, along with the elves. This explains, in particular, why their differences have reached a very significant scale, so much so, that some posit that dwarves should be divided not into subraces, but into actual races, in the same way as elves are divided now. All dwarves except raudagars have black hair and beards that do not turn gray for a significant amount of time, at least for half of their lifespans, which are as long as two centuries. Despite the rumours usually spread in the countryside far from the dwarven settlements, female dwarves do not have beards, however, quite a few of them have sideburns of various length and thickness, though usually not very pronounced. Svartgars or Dark Dwarves Main article: Svartgars So named because of their swarthy complexion, dark dwarves stand just above the rest of their relatives (they reach one and a half meter in height) but are less developed physically, although still stronger than what would be expected from other creatures of such size. Svartgars are famous for two things – their cities, built completely from scratch and turned into real monuments of architecture and art, and their close relationship with magic. Magic plays an important role in their culture: their whole life is inextricably linked with it. Even the rite of passage into adulthood is based on their ability to create a spell. Many things that other races achieve through technology or manual labor are solved through magic in their society. However, do not think svartgars avoid any kind of physical labor – their art and architecture is based on their hard work. Their cities, adorned with statues, arches and other decorative elements are almost entirely built of stone or sandstone, often lined with marble, granite or any other rare material that they bring from quarries, often dozens and even hundreds of kilometers away from the construction site. In general, their architecture leaves a (justified) impression of reliable and strong as the dwarves themselves are. Svartgars also usually pay a lot of attention to their appearance. One of the most respected occupations in their culture is being a barber, and for good reason – svartgars create elaborate hairstyles and braided beards, each in his or her own unique way. The higher the position in the society a svartgar holds, the more complex must be his or her appearance. In addition, the application of paint or makeup emphasizing the facial features, such as drawing the eye contour, is pretty much compulsory for high-powered svartgars. They often use jewelry, in most cases gold with semiprecious or precious stones, and the type of jewelry can be anything – rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, the small rings woven into beards and hair and so on. Svartgar cities are usually inhabited almost exclusively by their kind, except for some traders and officials. Not that black dwarves somehow specifically oppress representatives of other races, it's just very hard to settle down in their cities – they are designed for them and only for them. For example, every house in the city belongs to a family and has to be inherited, new buildings are built only in entire rows or rings instead of individually. Raudagars or Red Dwarves Raudagars are easily distinguished from the rest of the dwarves by the color of their hair and beards – they range from gold to dark red. Raudagars quickly adapted to the changes brought with the advent of advanced human civilization and the humans are tightly intertwined with the course of their history. There were several reasons for this, but the main one, perhaps, is the natural savviness and the "grip" that allows them to break into many pretty prestigious places. For instance, raudagars, known for their prudent and quick mind, were the ones that founded the first banks and all that followed it, was, at least in part, connected to them in one way or another. Generally, the two main powers of raudagars are considered to be finances and science. The second one might be puzzling, since raudagars, just as other dwarves, are usually not known for their creativity when it comes to global solutions, however, their precision and accuracy allows them to work with the most famous inventors. They were always among the first to adopt the new technologies and solutions. Red dwarves are usually not inclined to address issues with brute force and do not have magical talents that svartgars possess, which is why they prefer to avoid direct conflicts. However, this does not mean that they can not fend for themselves. Average raudagars can weigh up to sixty pounds, and all this – strong bones and muscles of iron. But, in the end, when push comes to shove, and the combat is going to happen, most raudagars would rather use a repeating crossbow of their own design than maces and axes. Close relationship between raudagars and humans, even with all the advantages of both races, had one drawback – the culture of red dwarves is practically lost now. Many raudagars do not even teach their children their language, preferring them to just learn simplan. Accordingly, they have no special preferences in appearance, in contrast to svartgars – raudagars often can not be distinguished from a human by their appearance at all, except, obviously, for the difference in their proportions. Perhaps the only significant part in this sense are complex patterns of tattoos that practically every raudagar puts on his or her body. Hvitagars or White Dwarves Hvitagars are, perhaps, the strongest of dwarves. Nevertheless, an ignorant person may misinterpret their appearance – hvitagars are almost livid, which is particularly emphasized by their matted black hair and beards, they are often considered ugly, look slouched, sometimes even gibbous and generally appear untidy and unattractive, sickly, even. One should not make such a mistake – white dwarves can be considered one of the most dangerous intelligent races in the world. They are trained in ways of combat from childhood, just as orcs, but also possess unique endurance, even if dwarves lose in sheer brute force. Hvitagars live in artificial caves, dug for stone quarrying and mining minerals, which they then sell, usually to svartgars or humans, or barter for household items and wood. They themselves almost don't use the gifts of the mines, except, perhaps, for making weapons and tools, the craft that hvitagars perfected for centuries. This situation arose from antiquity – even before humans came, hvitagars dug their tunnels and mines. Subsequently, people were able to establish relationships with white dwarves, allowing them to do what they did best, in exchange for generous gifts from the surface. Despite this mutually profitable relationship, hvitagars often rebelled, seemingly just because of their aggressive nature, which is exactly why they are the rarest kind of dwarves now. Hvitagars are known for their vindictive and unpleasant disposition, suspicious of "surfacers" and they rarely let them in their mines. They are afraid of sunlight, even though, according to legends, they used to live on the surface. If hvitagars must come out of their underground settlements, they will do it either at night or almost completely dressed in a full body garment, in contrast to their dungeons, where they often go half-naked. Unlike other dwarves, they see well in the dark. They wear virtually no jewelry except iron medallions denoting their kind. Fair Folk Fair Folk, or Feys, or Fairies are considered to be mysterious cousins of elves. It is not clear if there is any truth behind this connection, since, outside of their physical appearance, they share little in common with their proposed relatives. Fair Folk are small in numbers and are universally very isolationist, living in the conditions no other race would find comfortable. Their history is shrouded in legends and tall-tales and not even they themselves seem to know, or, really, care about it. Some even believe that they are closer to elemental spirits than other races, they have always existed and always will exist. This seems to be somewhat supported by the fact that none of the fairies ever age past a certain point, and some can even choose their age as easily as a human can choose their outfit. The name itself doesn't come from their complexion, although it is undeniably fair across all of the Fair Folk, but rather from old beliefs that they will be good ("fair") to people if you keep calling them as such. Even if it wasn't really the case (although some believe it was and their "fairness" just stuck to them across the centuries), the name is still there and the feys themselves don't seem to mind. There were, however, a lot of legends about the feys abducting men, women and even children or babies. While the reality of these tales can not be verified due to their age, it is certain, however, that the Fair Folk have some sort of fascination with other races and, contradictory to their isolationist nature, often marry outside their own kind. All feys mentioned here look mostly like humans, with possibly one distinguishing characteristic (outside of pointed ears typical to all no-human races), but they are also often distinguished by their unparalleled beauty, which, of course, could be the reason why the marriages mentioned above do happen so often. However, there are other creatures that share similarities to the ones described below so much so that they are considered feys as well, but they do possess even stranger powers and appearance. Their actions also do not always fall into the category of "fair". They will not be described in this section. Interestingly, feys also sometimes are described as hideous. This disparity and the fact that none of them are ever considered to be average-looking made some think that their beauty is some sort of a glamour, intentionally put on to deceive others, or one that just happens to be part of their very nature. Neither of these claims, however, were ever backed with any compelling evidence. Aos Si or the Mound Folk Mysterious cousins of elves, Aos Si (ˈʃiː, "ees shee" or Daoine Sidhe ˈʃiːə "deen-uh shee-uh"), also called Sith, Sidhe or just Shee (pronounced "Shee" in all cases), as well as Mound Folk for the ease of communication, live up to their ancient name given them by the humans of yore by mostly living inside hollowed-out mounds. Powerful wielders of magic and adepts of the school of Life, they shape the living things such as plants to create the settlements that are quite literally alive, thus living in complete harmony with admittedly strange version of nature they themselves help to construct. They are also known as great warriors, even if not through physical power. Some claim that they haven't lost a single battle. Both of these claims should be taken with a grain of salt, however, since Sidhe are very much against any war, which makes sense, considering that, like other fey creatures, they are very low in numbers, and more than likely it is just an overexaggerated account of the accomplishments of their ancestors rather than the situation today. However, this only applies to conflicts, and those who fought side by side with Sidhe against monstrous creatures or those, whose hearts were corrupted with the darkness, do agree that they are valuable allies. Physically, Aos Si look a lot like Dark Elves. They, as other fairies, have pale skin, lack facial hair and are somewhat taller than humans, but also possess dark (often described as "raven-black") hair typical for the drow. They, however, appear to be more lithe and thin than the drow are, and some of them do have red hair – another distinguishing characteristic. Their eyes are black as well. Out of all the feys, these are probably the least concerned with the lives of other races. They are quite content to live their lives in their mounds most of the time. The most common reason to leave them, strangely enough, is adventuring. Is it due to them wanting to have the same fame as their forebearers or due to something else is hard to say: Aos Si themselves are rather secretive, not out of malice, but rather out of their propensity to be silent and shy away from conversations, especially personal ones. They are usually quite thoughtgul and wise when they do speak, however, even as little contribution as they do provide could be very useful. Gwerin Annwn or the Deep Folk Gwerin Annwn (gʊeriːnˈanːʊn "Goo-ereen Anoon"), also called the Deep Folk or the Deep Ones are fairies who live on the bottom of the lakes in small magically imbued settlements. Unlike selkies, they do not transform themselves to live underwater, instead they just, for some reason, are untouched by water as though they create a bubble around them. Their cities exist in the same state, so, in fact, they never even touch the water, unless they specifically want to, and yet they can move through it with ease, propelled with seemingly nothing. Under the waters, they have their own cattle of the same fey nature, but they do not have crops other than water-weeds, so quisines made out of plants and fruits are considered an exotic delicatessy among them. Gwerin Annwn, like other fairies described in this section, are human- and elf-looking at the same time, possessing the unnatural beauty and pointed ears. Their hair is of golden colour and their eyes have the same range of colours as humans have, which might be an indication that they are the most human-like of the fairies. This might be true, considering that they often marry humans and other races, leaving their underwater abodes for the life on the surface. Unlike some other races living in such alien conditions, they are not shocked by living on the surface, since they travel there often in almost the same way as humans travel to sea for fishing, finding pearls, etc., but, unsurprisingly, this could still be a very hard change by mere virtue of leaving everything and everyone valued behind. This is why marriage to one of the Deep Folk usually has some very specific conditions that the other half should stick to, and if he or she doesn't, his or her partner leaves and goes back to the lake. One of the most often enforced conditions is a total lack of physical abuse, which sometimes goes as far as just tapping on the shoulder. This extreme aversion to touch along with their natural magical abilities that allows them to survive underwater seems to create some sort of a pattern of avoiding physical contact, which, coupled with them being probably one of the more open to contact fairies, is somewhat ironic. Even being one of the least isolationist feys, Gwerin Annwn are still alien to most other races' way of thinking. They can be very open with their emotions, even when said emotions would be considered inappropriate by others, and this is often the case because they look at things from a very different direction. They could be "this glass is half-full" type when it's appropriate to hold an opposite position, and the other way around. For instance, a death could be considered a blessing by them, when they think it relieves the person who died from suffering, and they will be openly happy about it, to the dismay of others. Huldrefolket or the Hidden Folk Huldrefolket, also called the Hidden Folk, are probably the most secretive and the least studied of all the fairies described there, which is reflected in their name. It is not even clear where they live: they come from the forests, but nobody has ever seen their settlement and was able to show it. Whether they even have settlements is not clear, and the Hidden Folk are not helping on the matter at all. Some claim that they've seen wooden towns in the midst of the forests, some claim that they come from underground and some even say that they come from another world entirely, but none of these claims have any evidence to support them. The Hidden Folk, like other fairies, are stunningly beautiful, and, like a lot of others, have a certain interest in other races, including humans. They, however, do not operate like Gwerin Annwn, in that they rarely make any binds as strong as marriage, although these cases are not unheard of either, perfectly happy with short-lived romances or just some kind of friendships based on mutual respect. While some might seem them as flirtatious, they demand nothing but utter politeness. Anything you might want to point out to one of the Hidden Folk would be better said in some form of an euphemism, unless you want to insult them, which is usually not a good idea, or if you know them well enough to understand that this kind of informality will be permitted at this point. Unlike a lot of other fairies, Huldrefolket have a very distinct animalistic feature: their spines end with a tail like that of a fox, usually long enough to touch the ground. It is usually well hidden however, just as any other secret they hold, so both men and women of these people prefer to wear long dresses or robes. Some say that when they do not expect to find anyone else, Hidden Folk walk around naked, not feeling any shame about it, but this is obviously a rare sight and is merely a curious observation with little to no practical purpose. Other than that, the Hidden Folk have no other distinguishing traits. Their eyes and hair can be of the same colours the humans can have, their height, while slightly taller than an average human, is probably the shortest among other fairies described here, and the only other detail are the usual pointed ears. What makes them different, however, is their innate unnatural strength that can catch anyone by surprise, since their seemingly frail bodies do not seem to possess it at all. It is more than likely magical in nature, but the attempts to figure out its origin have been fruitless. Selkies Selkies are fairies that are similar to Gwerin Annwn in many ways. Like them, they live underwater, they often find people from the surface to marry. Unlike them, however, selkies have a strange power that is common to many other fairies, however, and that is that they can transfrom themselves into another creatures. In the case of selkies, they turn into seals, which makes them perfect for swimming and diving underwater. In their animal form they retain their intelligence, although they can't talk to other races, only to other selkies in a strange seal language that only they understand. Some people have learned to understand it as well, and even though they can't make the same sounds themselves, they can still talk in their own language, and selkies can talk in theirs. However, it is usually pointless, since transforming from one form to another is apparently as easy and painless to them as changing clothes is for other races. Interestingly, not all selkie settlements are underwater, some are built on small remote islands. However, most selkies spend most of their time underwater, just as seals do. Unlike Gwerin Annwn, they do not have any sort of protective magic around them, since they do not need it. Also unlike them, selkies are a lot closer to other races in their behavior, even though they love seas much more for obvious reasons. Other than that, their only distinguishing traits are hair, black or dark grey as seal's fur, pointed ears, stunning beauty and barely noticeable webbing between their fingers. The legends of old tell about selkies needing an actual seal skin to transform into their animal appearance, but, be it from a misunderstanding or some change in the following years, this does not seem to be the case nowadays. This means, of course, that there is no way to force a selkie to what you command them by stealing their skin, as decribed in these tales. Goblins Write the first section of your page here. Gnomes Write the second section of your page here. Half-Elves ds Halflings ds Half-Orcs dsa High Elves fg Humans sd Orcs ds Wood Elves hg